The Churchill War Papers: Never Surrender

Much more than a beacon of morale and unbending resolve, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was intimately involved in day-to-day policymaking in the effort to defeat Hitler, as revealed by this second installment of his war papers. Through diary entries, memoranda, cabinet minutes, telegrams, letters and speeches, we watch as Churchill tries to convince Vichy France to turn its back on the Axis, proposes military initiatives, stamps out negative and defeatist attitudes among top officials and attempts to prevent Mussolini from joining in the war. Here we see Churchill coping with the ever-present threat of German invasion, the slow pace of American aid and the pounding of the Blitz. Filled with secret government documents, this volume reveals the peril Britain was in during his first eight months as prime minister. Oxford historian Gilbert, who is Churchill's authorized biographer, has assembled a major historical source. (Mar.)